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Bengaluru I had a long list of things I needed to get done on this trip to India, catch up with Dharmendra Kumar in Delhi on our progress at blocking multi-brand retail in Delhi and stopping foreign direct investment, state by state, and evaluate our growing, alliance with hawkers, and my coming visit with Vinod Shetty in Mumbai will focus on our progress in Dharavi and see the developments in the sorting system for our wastepickers were vital. But, none ranked higher than visiting with Suresh Kadashan and seeing if we had finally succeeded in forming official, registered unions for the informal workers we were organizing in Bengaluru.
The organizing was certainly not new. We had been plugging away at it for about five years with wastepickers, hawkers, domestic workers, and others, but eighteen months ago our decision had been to bite the bullet and register formally as an independent trade union under the laws of the state of Karnataka, where Bengaluru with about 5 million people is the capital and largest city. The rest of the world may know Bangalore by its old name and its reputation as India's tech center or as "silicon" city, as some of the boosters are saying now, but that's another world from our organizing with slum dwellers and informal workers.
But every month we would try to register and could get no decision, and this went on, frustratingly, for over a year until this last December, when finally a deputy labor commissioner agreed to a path forward. Winning the registration was a matter of signatures from members and producing a minimum number (150) at a meeting of the street vendors. We now have organized the vendors in 25 different street markets throughout the city and once the process is finalized in coming months Suresh expects we will find ourselves with 6000 new dues-paying members. I was with Suresh yesterday as we bussed and auto-rickshawed to various street markets to meet with the officers of local branches of our new union in several places.
I also got to watch him have an impromptu noon meeting with 35 vendors on a side street market that needed to come into the union in order to fight for space under the Metro since a bridge was about to displace them once construction began. It was exciting to watch a small plastic tarp spread over nearby dirt transformed into an organizing meeting! Already our fledgling union has successfully filed cases against police harassment of vendors based on protections for sellers that are included in the state constitution, giving hard pressed hawkers some spring in their step. In the meeting as well, Suresh dramatically pulled out the application papers for a national pension scheme that could provide small retirements for our members after 60 based on a 2:1 match annually that, importantly, has to be certified by the official seal of our union.
Registrations for a wastepickers union floundered, when the city privatized wet and dry garbage pickup, but we're watching that situation closely. We've also now filed for a local union of street food preparers which could yield another 2000 members, once approved, and, yes, India is the home of the craft union, more than the industrial model, as you can see.
Opportunity within the informal sector abounds. Leaders estimated 130000 street vendors ply their wares in Bengaluru and perhaps a million-and-a-half are vendors among all of Karnataka 61 million people, but in this huge state, that's still a bridge too far perhaps since 10 of the 15 districts would have to organize in order to win a statewide union charter.
Big dreams and hard work, yield big dividends, and finally our new union is alive and growing in Bengaluru, but that also means even bigger dreams and harder work lie ahead of us in the future. It was thrilling to be a part of it all!


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To become a citizen of the US, an immigrant needs to learn when the constitution was written. In Australia, the meaning of Anzac Day. In the Netherlands, whether homosexuality is tolerated. These are questions on each country's citizenship test — the final barrier to becoming nationalized in most wealthy countries.
(Editor's Note: This story is part of a new series all week on PRI's The World about citizenship. There will also be an online discussion about citizenship and its place in the immigration reform debate on PRI.org on Thursday.)
The general concept behind every citizenship test is constant: immigrants must learn basic language skills and civics knowledge before they can become a citizen. But when it comes to how each state determines those qualities, there's quite a bit of variation.
Let's start with The Vatican City. It has one of the most narrow set of requirements to be nationalized. Only about 500 people have citizenship. They are the cardinals, diplomats and Swiss Guards of the Catholic Church in Rome and some lay employees. There's no exam to become a citizen. The condition is pretty straight-forward: you work for the state.
That's an extreme example of national unity. Yet at some level, all countries push new citizens to integrate. That's where civics and language citizenship tests come in. Antony Kunnan teaches English Literature at the Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, and he's considered the go-to academic on citizenship tests. "The basic idea" for countries, he says, "is that this test of language ability and some history of government will bring them this civic nationalism or social cohesion."
In other words, the exam will somehow instill a country's ethos into a new immigrant.
Japan's test is a good example. "The general requirement," he says, "is that you should have a certain amount of 'Japanese-ness.'"
Now, how exactly you go about proving that, Kunnan says isn't made clear on any of the websites or preparation material.
South Korea is more direct. The emphasis is on language skills: reading, writing, speaking — and singing. Yes, that's right, singing. You need to belt out South Korea's national anthem to pass the exam. Kunnan says the high language bar makes the test hard for South Korea's large Chinese immigrant population.
South Korea's test exemplifies how the exam can be used to try and bar immigrants from achieving citizenship. Kunnan says countries usually implement tests amidst rising concern over immigration. The US, he says, was one of the first to have a test back in the 80s, and other countries have followed suit.
Tim McNamara is a linguistics professor at Melbourne University who's studied the testing trend. He says if you look at the political rhetoric that surrounds the institution of these test, it usually has to do with a kind of national crisis of multiculturalism. A country is concerned about increasing immigration and wants to solidify a national identity against that influx. McNamara says theses tests are mainly political tools — a way to score points by looking tough on immigration.
"It seems to me," he says "that the function of the test, really, is to achieve something politically for the mainstream parties."
The recent test history in France and the UK illustrate McNamara's view.
In France, President Francois Hollande's socialist government is enacting policies to help more people pass its citizenship test; while in England, the conservative government has recently made its test harder. Applicants now face tough cultural questions about Rudyard Kipling, The Beatles and Monty Python. Yes, the Flying Circus. The Daily Telegraph calls the new test in Britain a bad pub quiz. The Guardian has posted a few sample questions in a quiz online users can take on their website.
And if you start asking why certain questions are on the test, it's hard to justify them as anything more than trivia. Why The Beatles instead of The Kinks or The Clash? Why Rudyard Kipling instead of Phillip Larkin or Sylvia Plath? Because the exams aren't constructed using the science of standardized testing, critics call them arbitrary — a kind of cultural grab bag of facts forced upon potential citizens by those in power.
McNamara says the content on the Australian test has suffered just this criticism. The country first imposed a citizenship test in 2006 under the government of Prime Minister John Howard. McNamara says because Howard was a cricket fan, he believed every decent Australian needed to know Don Bradman — a famous cricket player for all you unfamiliar with wickets.
Australia threw the Bradman question out during a test revamp, but McNamara says they still didn't standardize the language difficulty of the exam. He says it's still far above the basic level of English that the law requires for immigrants to become citizens. He says many of the citizenship exams haven't done a thorough linguistic analysis to ensure the language difficulty of the exam meets the target level.
Even when the questions seem relevant, critics say they often lack enough context to make them meaningful. Question number 33 from the Dutch exam irks Massimiliano Spotti, a professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, for its total lack of context. It asks "Why was Anne Frank famous?" Spotti says immigrants don't learn that Anne Frank was a Holocaust victim — nor that she died at a concentration camp. Instead, the answer they are told to give is that she's famous because she has "written a diary."
Spotti says the bigger issue with these tests is that they impose a kind of top-down definition of cultural identity. On the Dutch test, for instance, the "questions spell out what is the canonical knowledge of what someone should have to live in the Netherlands." They try to establish through authority the definition of Dutchness or Japanesness or Britishness.
Professor Kunnan in Singapore adds that there's little public input into that cultural definition. He says the tests are created — and evaluated — largely behind closed doors. And without citizenship, immigrants have little political power to push for more transparency.
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subset: commoncrawl


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School canceled due to 'good weather'
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- And a rallying cry goes up around the office:
"They should do that here!"
The Bellingham Christian School plans to cancel school Friday on account of the "exceptionally nice" weather forecasted for the Puget Sound region.
The principal of Bellingham Christian School in the 1600 block of East Sunset Drive sent a letter to parents earlier this week saying they would most likely forgo a day of school to enjoy the sunshine. He called canceling a day of school for nice weather a good move in an effort to "promote positive school culture." He also said a day off was "just for fun."
"Typically we cancel school for bad weather, so why not have some fun and cancel school due to fabulous weather?" Principal Bob Samson said.
Childcare will still be provided during school hours, Samson said.
The school did not cancel any days during the winter. A notice to officially close school will be posted on the school's website at 6:30 a.m. Friday.
Here is Samson's full letter:
To celebrate an exceptionally nice day of the spring season, to promote positive school culture and just for fun, Bellingham Christian School has decided to cancel school due to good weather.
Typically we cancel school for bad weather, so why not have some fun and cancel school due to fabulous weather? For us Washingtonians, it's just as significant we figure. Our student body and staff are looking forward to a nice day to bask and play in the spring sun, which may end up happening May 2nd, and if not then we will hope for May 3rd. We encourage the students to get outside and play.
If tomorrow, May 2nd, has clear skies in the morning and if weather.gov has a forecast of 63 degrees or higher, we will cancel the school for the whole day due to good weather. Wahoooo! If we don't cancel school on the 2nd, we will look to the forecast for the 3rd and cancel school Friday.
Mr. Sampson, the school's principal, will make the decision to cancel school by 6:30 AM. The notice will be posted on the school's website, www.bellinghamchristianschool.org, and the inner school Sycamore website.
There are so many heavy things that go in our world, it's nice to celebrate, relax and share joy with many.
Since we've had no snow days, we are able to make this cancellation and still have more than enough state allocated hours for the year. Additionally, childcare will be provided at the school, should there be some parents who are unable to have a place for their children to go.


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By Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Democrats continue to out-register their Republican counterparts, with the latest data from Clark County now showing a more than 100,000 voter advantage as the deadline to participate in the Nov. 6 general election draws ever closer.
Today just before noon the Clark County website, which updates registration totals regularly, showed 346,703 Democrats registered to vote compared to 246,479 for Republicans, a 100,224 advantage.
Nonpartisans totaled 132,529 and other minor parties totaled 41,910 for a total registered population of 767,621 in Clark County.
Early voting will begin in just a little more than a month.
The consistent outpacing of Democrats over Republicans in the voter registration race could spell trouble for the GOP from the presidential race on down to state legislative races.
In addition to the presidential contest between President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney, an important Senate race pitting U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., against Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., is at stake.
And Republicans in the state Senate are engaged in a concerted effort to win control of the 21-member house in November. Democrats now hold an 11-10 edge.
Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, said Democrats are doing well in the registration race because the message of the party on improving education and creating jobs is resonating with voters.
"We thought the economy was going to be the No. 1 thing, but education is and so, I think the message – better educating our children, trying to diversify our economy in different sectors, trying to do things that bring job here – I think those are all messages that are resounding with folks and they're choosing to register Democrat," he said.
Denis said Democrats in Nevada have a history of strong turnout for elections, which will also aid the party and its candidates. While nonpartisans will be a big factor in the races, many of those voters are expected to vote Democratic as well, he said.
Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, said Republicans have the edge despite the registration difference.
"Well look, obviously we don't want to see the numbers getting more divergent than they are in some of these races, and it's unfortunate, but the reality remains that these are very winnable races for us," he said. "We have a superior candidate, we have a superior organization, we have superior funding. So in that way, we still feel confident in each and every one of these districts that we're fielding the better future state senator. So in that way I believe that we're going to win every one of them."
Contrary to Denis' view, Kieckhefer said he believes nonpartisan voters are going to break Republican in the election.
Republican Senate candidates "are right on the messages, they are right on the issues," he said.
"They have the position that is more in line with the majority of voters in their district," Kieckhefer said.
The deadline to register to vote in the election is Oct. 16. The last day to register without appearing in person at an Election Department office is Oct. 6.
"I encourage everyone to visit our website to make sure they are registered to vote or to ensure their registration information is current," Clark County Registrar of Voters Harvard Lomax said in a recent news release. "Individuals with a Nevada driver's license will be able to take advantage of our online registration services and there is still time to register through the mail."
Early voting for the election begins on Saturday, Oct. 20 and extends through Friday, Nov. 2.
A check of the Clark County website at noon each day for the past few days shows Democrats continue to consistently out-register Republicans.
On Thursday, the site showed 342,293 registered Democrats, 244,963 registered Republicans and 130,789 nonpartisans.
On Friday, Democrats had added 1,196 registered voters in Clark County from Thursday, Republicans added 322 voters, and nonpartisans increased by 478.
On Saturday, Democrats had added 287 voters from Friday, Republicans added 104 voters and nonpartisans rose by 98. The numbers were not updated on Sunday.
On Monday at noon, the Clark County site showed Democrats had added 1,970 voters from the weekend report, Republicans had added 610 voters, and nonpartisans increased by 674 voters.
On Tuesday at noon, the site showed Democrats had added 1,024 voters, Republicans had added 509 voters and nonpartisans increased by 520 voters.
In 2010, at the close of registration, Democrats only held a 91,633 advantage in Clark County. In 2008, at the close of registration, Democrats held a 125,218 advantage in Clark County.
Democrats have been outpacing Republicans in the statewide numbers reported monthly by the Secretary of State's Office as well. Even nonpartisan registrations have exceeded Republican registrations in recent months.
As of the end of August, there were 463,229 Democrats registered statewide, 407,513 Republicans and 186,941 nonpartisans. The Democratic advantage stood at 55,716.
As of Saturday, Democrats had 471,585 registered voters statewide and Republicans had 411,525, giving Democrats a 60,060 edge, up by 4,344 voters since the end of August.
The push to control the state Senate is one of the bigger Nevada election stories this year. There are five seats considered competitive, and Republicans need to win four of them to take an 11-10 edge.
But Democrats keep making headway in the four Southern Nevada districts. As of last week, Democrats had a 4 percent edge over Republicans in Senate seat 5, 5.1 percent in seat 6, 6.1 percent in seat 9, and trailed Republicans by 2 percent in seat 18.
Seats 5, 6 and 9 now have larger Democratic edges than even in 2008.
In another closely watched contest, the race for the 4th Congressional District seat between state Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, and Republican Danny Tarkanian, Democrats now have an 11 percent edge, or 30,000 more voters, than Republicans.
"This is only the latest sign that Nevadans are rejecting Mitt Romney and Dean Heller's plan to outsource jobs and end Medicare by turning it over to private insurance companies," said Zach Hudson, spokesman for the Nevada State Democratic Party. "Nevadans across the state are excited about re-electing President Obama and sending Shelley Berkley to the Senate to create jobs, protect Medicare, and strengthen the middle class."


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NEW YORK (AP) – Out of a relatively balmy winter have sprung some economic surprises. People have more cash in their pockets because they aren't turning up the thermostat. Airlines don't have to de-ice planes or battle blizzards. And shoppers are finding great deals on coats and boots.
But there are also disappointments. Merchants are stuck with unsold shovels and snow blowers. Drugstores say customers aren't buying cold medicine or getting as many flu shots.
The weather has been so mild that at some hardware outlets, rakes are flying off the shelf, and grass seed is outselling ice-melting salt.
"I haven't seen this mix of sales since I can remember," said David Ziegler, whose family owns nine Ace Hardware stores in the northwest Chicago area. "They're buying rakes ... just because it's warmer and people are not holed up."
This winter has been remarkably tame, especially in regions accustomed to a three-month tussle with freezing temperatures, snow, sleet and ice. In the Northeast, only four Decembers in the last 117 years have been warmer, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather feels especially gentle after two straight seasons of bitter cold and heavy snow. And it will take much more than Friday's relatively moderate snowstorm in the Midwest and Northeast to change that.
For Rocco A. Guadagna, it's been a lazy winter. He owns a lawn care and snow-removal company in Buffalo, N.Y. Because he charges an upfront fee for an entire season of plowing, he's getting paid even though he's hardly had to do any work.
Last year, his plows went out 42 times, more than usual. This year, he went out Friday for just the second time. But he doesn't think customers mind paying for something they barely use.
"Ninety percent, when they pay me, they say 'I hope I never see you,'" he said.
He's not the only one saving money. The weather and low natural gas prices have combined to push down home heating costs for the 51 percent of American households that use gas.
A typical bill this winter will be $700, a 3 percent drop from last year and the fourth straight year of declines, according to Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Director's Association.
Jim Cusick, a state employee in St. Paul, has been able to run his radiators less and catch up on an out-of-control home heating bill aggravated by the big, drafty old house where he lives with five of his six kids.
Because of last winter, Cusick said, he owed his utility more than $3,000 in back payments. As of this month, he said, his negative balance is down to $650.
"It's a bummer for the kids. They miss the skating and stuff," Cusick said. "But if winter stays mild, life will be better."
Airlines are enjoying savings, too. During storms, they often lose money because of refunds, delays and added costs for labor and expensive de-icing fluid.
United Continental Holdings Inc., the world's largest airline, said December snowstorms in 2010 hurt its fourth-quarter profit by $10 million and wiped out $25 million in revenue from fares and fees.
Not this season though. There were about 7,000 flight cancelations in the U.S. in December, down from 29,000 the year before, according to FlightStats. On-time performance improved to 79 percent, from 66 percent the year before.
The weather is a mixed bag for stores that offer outdoor gear. Henry Carter, co-owner of 9th Street Cycles, a bike store in Brooklyn, N.Y., said sales of winter equipment have been slow, but bike sales have been surprisingly brisk. And customers are riding more. So instead of the occasional cleaning or adjustment, the repair shop is busy will full tuneups.
"That's usually the stuff of summertime," he said.
For retailers, the weather has been a challenge and an opportunity. They want the weather to be cold, but not too cold. They hope for a few snowstorms that inspire people to buy coats and snow blowers, but not blizzards that keep shoppers inside for days.
So, while more people are out shopping now, they're not buying the bulky winter merchandise. And since they can't sell it, stores have to discount it heavily, which eats away at profit.
Now, instead of clearing out what's left of the cold-weather stuff to make room for spring supplies, they have mounds of winter things for sale at rock-bottom prices.
Coats are the biggest headache. They take up a lot of space, and they are expensive, so big markdowns hurt the bottom line more. Stores are discounting coats by 70 percent on average, and many are slashing prices on entire coat departments.
"Stores can't get rid of the outerwear fast enough," said Scott A. Bernhardt, chief operating officer of Planalytics Inc., a research firm that uses weather patterns to advise stores what they should buy to sell to customers.
Barbara Paschal of Muncie, Ind., recently got a coat at Sears for $48, marked down from $120. Still, she's holding off on buying gloves for four of her three teenage sons.
"There's no reason to buy gloves," said Paschal, noting the temperature is around 40 degrees. "If we get snow, then I will get the gloves."
Drugstore operators Walgreen Co. and Rite Aid Corp. both say the warm weather has hurt sales of cough, cold and flu products compared with last year. They are also giving fewer flu shots and filling fewer prescriptions.
Walgreen administered about 5.3 million flu shots between August and December, down from 6 million over the same period in 2010. In December, prescriptions for cough, cold and flu treatments were down 1.5 percent at established stores.
The temperatures have even stifled good-natured winter humor.
Ellen Shubart, who volunteers for the Chicago Architecture Foundation, recently started guiding a tour of the city's underground walkway system downtown called "Warm Walk, Cool Architecture."
The jokes she devised about gloves, boots and hats have been falling flat.
"We planned it with the idea that it's going to be cold outside," she said.
Associated Press writers Anne D'Innocenzio, Samantha Bomkamp and Marley Seaman in New York City; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y.; Barbara Rodriguez in Chicago; and Patrick Condon in St. Paul, Minn., contributed to this report.
Jonathan Fahey can be reached at www.twitter.com/JonathanFahey
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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14 Nights | NORTHERN ALLURE
You will visit the following 12 places:
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark. This "friendly old girl of a town" is big enough to be a metropolis with shopping, culture and nightlife par excellence, yet still small enough to be intimate, safe and easy to navigate. Overlooking the Øresund strait with Sweden just minutes away, it is a cultural and geographic link between mainland Europe and Scandinavia. This is where old fairy tales blend with flashy new architecture and world-class design; where warm jazz mixes with cold electronica from Copenhagen's basements. You'll feel you've seen it all in a day, but could keep on discovering more for months. Copenhagen is considered a very liveable place because of its cleanliness. It's considered as one of the very environmentally friendly cities because its harbour can be swum in and about a third of the city's people use bicycles as their means of transportation. In their downtown area, the places to visit and to be entertained at are the Tivoli gardens and the Town Hall Square. If you want the very cultural and scenic areas the places to see are the Marble church, the Rosenborg castle, and the Christiansborg.
Stavanger is a city and municipality in Norway. The urban area of Stavanger stretches across many neighboring municipalities, making it the third largest city in Norway by total urban population with 197 852 inhabitants as of January 1, 2011. Stavanger's core is to a large degree 18th- and 19th-century wooden houses that are protected and considered part of the city's cultural heritage. This has caused the town centre and inner city to retain a small-town character with an unusually high ratio of detached houses, and has contributed significantly to spreading the city's population growth to outlying parts of Greater Stavanger. The city's rapid population growth in the late 20th century was primarily a result of Norway's booming offshore oil industry. Today the oil industry is a key industry in the Stavanger region and the city is widely referred to as the Oil Capital of Norway. Multiple educational institutions for higher education are located in Stavanger. The largest of these is the University of Stavanger.
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated 120 kilometres (75 mi) south-west of London and 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest. It lies at the northernmost point of Southampton Water at the confluence of the River Test and River Itchen, with the River Hamble joining to the south of the urban area. The local authority is Southampton City Council, which is a unitary authority. Just over a quarter of the jobs available in the city are in the health and education sector. A further 19 per cent are property and other business and the third largest sector is wholesale and retail, which accounts for 16.2 percent. Between 1995 and 2004, the number of jobs in Southampton has increased by 18.5 per cent. Southampton has always been a port, and the docks have long been a major employer in the city. In particular, it is a port for cruise ships; its heyday was the first half of the 20th century, and in particular the inter-war years, when it handled almost half the passenger traffic of the UK. Today it remains home to luxury cruise ships, as well as being the largest freight port on the Channel coast and fourth largest UK port by tonnage, with several container terminals. Unlike some other ports, such as Liverpool, London, and Bristol, where industry and docks have largely moved out of the city centres leaving room for redevelopment, Southampton retains much of its inner-city industry.
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It has a latitude of 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state, and is a popular tourist destination. It is the heart of Icelands's cultural, economic and governmental activity. The city itself is spread out, with sprawling suburbs. The city centre, however, is a very small area characterized by eclectic and colourful houses, with good shopping, dining, and drinking.
Oslo is a county and municipality, as well as the capital and largest city in Norway. Oslo was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III "Hardraade" of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The Danish–Norwegian king Christian IV moved the city, rebuilding it closer to Akershus fortress, as Christiania (briefly also spelt Kristiania). In 1925, the city reclaimed its original Norwegian name, Oslo. The diocese of Oslo is one of the five original dioceses in Norway, which originated around the year 1070.
Gothenburg is the second-largest and a major city in Sweden, situated off the Göta älv river on the country's west coast. The City of Gothenburg was founded in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. An important seaport, it's famed for its Dutch-style canals and leafy boulevards like the Avenyn, the city's main thoroughfare, lined with many cafes and shops.
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of 261,600 as of April 31, 2011. Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of 386,900 as of April 31, 2011. Bergen is located in the county of Hordaland on the south-western coast of Norway. It is an important cultural hub in its region, recognized as the unofficial capital of Western Norway and sometimes also referred to as the Atlantic coast capital of Norway. The city was one of nine European cities honoured with the title of European Capital of Culture in the Millennium year.
The Convent Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is the country's largest city and its financial, cultural, and creative centre. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the world's 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city in which to live by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and 12th globally on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer. Amsterdam derives its name from the city's origin as "Dam" of river "Amstel". In the past, the name was "Amstelredamme" which later changed as "Amsterdam". The city is one of the most popular destinations in Europe, attracting over 7 million international travellers annually. The city is colloquially known as ''Venice of the North'' because of its lovely canals that criss-cross the city, its impressive architecture and more than 1,500 bridges. There is something for every traveller's taste here; whether you prefer culture and history, serious partying, or just the relaxing charm of an old European city!


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By Philip Wen
Beijing: A car drives up and screeches to a halt outside a quiet riverside teahouse. Gunmen emerge, shots ring out; three men drop to the floor, dead. The car speeds off, and in a matter of seconds, a gangland execution is complete.
It is this graphic narrative that sets the scene for what China's official state broadcaster described as the most "wicked" and "enormous" organised crime gangs to rule the streets of Sichuan, a thriving province in the west of China.
At the centre is alleged billionaire kingpin Liu Han, whose company, Hanlong Group, was given the all-clear by the Foreign Investment Review Board to take over Australian iron ore miner Sundance Resources in 2012.
The fallout has been embarrassing for all concerned. A former Hanlong executive in Australia, Calvin Zhu, was found guilty of insider trading and sentenced to two years and three months in jail. Another executive facing insider trading charges, Steven Xiao, skipped bail and was arrested in Hong Kong last month.
Meanwhile, the $1.4 billion takeover offer proved too good to be true. The deal collapsed in April last year after the funds Hanlong promised failed to materialise, with Liu's financial backer China Development Bank pulling out.
The reasons for this are now becoming clear. Liu was detained in Beijing during the National People's Congress in March last year and had not been seen in public, prompting speculation he had been quietly executed.
Instead, after a 10-month investigation, 36 people including Liu and his brother Liu Wei are being prosecuted by the Xianning People's Procuratorate in Hubei Province on suspicion of six murders and other gang-related crimes.
The state broadcaster CCTV's news report, which aired on Thursday, made for riveting viewing.
Liu Wei, a prominent entrepreneur and philanthropist, pictured running in the Beijing Olympics torch relay, was actually an "organised crime boss that no one dared provoke", with extensive interests in gambling syndicates and loansharking, it was reported.
He ordered the shootings on that winter's day in 2009; one of the victims, Chen Fuwei, was an arch-rival that had threatened to kill him first.
It is then, the report alleges, that Liu Wei vanished, with his "vastly powerful brother who would stop at nothing" giving him "millions" of yuan and using his political influence to help harbour him.
A seized weapons cache of 20 firearms, 677 bullets and three "military-grade grenades" was flaunted on screen, as was the police's mock-up of the gang's organisational chart, with Liu Han sitting proudly on top.
Untouchable in his Sichuan stronghold, Liu Han's arrest in Beijing last March, during the Communist Party's most important annual set-piece political event, is significant for other reasons.
Liu is known to have close ties to Zhou Yongkang, the powerful former head of China's domestic security apparatus, who himself is in the crosshairs of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. A 30-year veteran of China's state-owned oil monopoly, Zhou was also previously the party secretary of Sichuan.
"Liu Han could turn up to Zhou's house unannounced," one source with ties to the oil industry said. "He wouldn't even need to knock and he would be welcomed right in."
While there has been no official announcement of any investigation into the former Politburo Standing Committee member, Liu is only one of a growing tally of known Zhou associates to be toppled in the past year.
In the latest development, China announced on Tuesday it was investigating a former Zhou aide, vice-governor of Hainan province Ji Wenlin, for alleged "serious violations of discipline", a Communist Party euphemism for corruption. By one count, Ji is the 18th senior official to fall as the net around Zhou tightens.
Significantly for a Chinese media regulated and controlled by the state, a report in The Beijing News clearly pointed out Ji's ties to his former boss and others ensnared in corruption investigations, including former Sichuan officials Guo Yongxiang and Li Chongxi, as well as former PetroChina executive Li Hualin.
The report also cited Jiang Jiemin, Wang Yongchun and Li Chuncheng, in the "high-level, systematic, network of corruption".
"What on earth have these people done? How much of China's national fortune have they embezzled, and who else is in this network?" the report, which spread widely online, said. "How has this huge corruption network been able to form and deliberately collude?
"Maybe, with deepening anti-corruption investigation in the future, the answers may surface one by one, and the public will gradually see all the truth."
with Sanghee Liu


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Knox-Box products can now be ordered online at the Knox-Box website. Choose a product then enter the zip code of where the box will be installed, or enter Woodland Fire Department. After you fill out the order form and "submit" it, your order will be forwarded to the Fire Prevention Division for pre-approval. You will receive an email stating whether the order is approved or not, and if not, the reason why. You can then proceed with payment and shipping information.
Show All Answers
A KNOX-BOX® is a secure key vault that is installed on the exterior of a building near the main entrance. This box contains building keys or key cards to provide access for the fire department in emergency situations without resorting to forced entry and potential damage to property. The fire department maintains master keys for the Knox boxes in secure locations.
3200 Series Knox-Box is the smallest model approved for commercial use, but the selected Knox-Box must be large enough to accommodate all keys and magnetic cards necessary for Fire Department access to all areas of the building. Recessed models are available for those seeking a more aesthetically pleasing box.
Knox Boxes should be mounted as near as possible to the primary entry door and shall not be visually obstructed. The Knox Box should be installed 5 to 6 feet from ground level. The Knox Box for a gate shall be located on the gate or on a fence or wall within 6 feet of the gate. Additional boxes may be required based on the size of building or fire protection systems throughout the property.
If a tamper switch is connected to the automatic fire alarm system or security system, it must report a "supervisory" condition - never an "alarm" condition. Do not discard the red reflector decal provided with the Knox-Box. Fire Department will install this decal to identify the location of the Knox-Box for responding emergency personnel.
Keys to exterior doors, interior doors, electrical and mechanical rooms, etc., shall be clearly identified using durable tags and on a single ring if possible. After the Knox-Box is installed, the owner or their designee must contact the Fire Prevention Division at 530-661-5857 or by email to schedule an appointment to secure the keys and lock the Knox-Box.
Knox padlocks and key switches operate with the same master key. These items help expedite emergency responders responding to gated communities, apartments, and businesses. Padlocks and switches could be ordered using the same procedure. Knox Padlocks are required where padlocks are used on manual security gates across fire lanes, and where otherwise approved and directed by the Fire Prevention Bureau. Knox Key Switches are required where approved for access control systems, and electric/motorized security gates across fire lanes.
In areas that are highly prone to vandalism, tampering, or where non-locking caps are continuously missing, locking Knox FDC caps may be required as directed by the Fire Prevention Bureau. These caps prevent debris from entering and damaging the system, and obstructing water flow.
Further information about Knox-Box Rapid Entry Systems can be obtained at the Knox-Box website.


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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Rawalpindi's police chief stopped doctors at the hospital where Benazir Bhutto died from conducting an autopsy, according to a lawyer on the hospital's board.
In a video released Sunday, Benazir Bhutto, far right, appears through the sunroof before shots ring out.
It was a violation of Pakistani criminal law and prevented a medical conclusion about what killed the former prime minister, said Athar Minallah, who serves on the board that manages Rawalpindi General Hospital.
However, the police chief involved, Aziz Saud, told CNN that he suggested an autopsy be done, but that Bhutto's husband objected.
The revelation came on Monday after new videotape of Bhutto's assassination emerged, showing her slumping just after gunshots rang out.
The tape provided the clearest view yet of the attack and appeared to show that Bhutto was shot. That would contradict the Pakistan government's account.
Read Bhutto's full medical report
A previously released videotape showed a man at the right of her vehicle raising a gun, pointing it toward Bhutto, who was standing in her car with her upper body through the sunroof. He fired three shots, then there was an explosion.
In the video that emerged on Sunday, Bhutto was standing, and her hair and scarf appeared to move, perhaps from the bullet. Bhutto fell into the car, then came the blast. Watch new tape showing apparent gunman »
These images seem to support the theory that Bhutto died at the hands of a shooter before a bomb was detonated, killing another 23 people.
Doctors at Rawalpindi General Hospital declared the 54-year-old dead hours after Thursday's attack, but the cause of her death has been widely debated.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry announced on Friday that Bhutto died from a skull fracture suffered when she fell or ducked into the car as a result of the shots or the explosion and crashed her head onto a sunroof latch. See the likely sequence of events »
Bhutto's family and political party maintain that the government is lying, and insist she died from gunshot wounds.
Bhutto's husband, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday, called for an international investigation into his wife's death, saying the new video proves the Pakistani government "has been trying to muddy the water from the first day."
"Everything is now very clear that she was shot," Asif Ali Zardari said.
Zardari also called on the U.S. government to push for an international probe.
"I want them to help me find out who killed my wife, the mother of my children," he said of the Bush administration.
Javed Iqbal Cheema, spokesman for Pakistan's Interior Ministry, said the government's conclusion on Bhutto's death was based on "absolute facts, nothing but the facts" and "it was corroborated by the doctor's report."
But Minallah issued an open letter on Monday and released the doctors' clinical notes to distance them from the government statement, and he also talked to CNN.
In the letter, Minallah said the doctors "suggested to the officials to perform an autopsy," but that Saud "did not agree." He noted that under the law, police investigators have "exclusive responsibility" in deciding to have an autopsy.
Minallah told CNN that he was speaking out because the doctors at the hospital were "threatened."
"They are government servants who cannot speak; I am not," he said. He did not elaborate on the threats against the doctors.
He said the lack of an autopsy has created "a perception that there is some kind of cover-up, though I might not believe in that theory."
"There is a state within the state, and that state within the state does not want itself to be held accountable," Minallah said.
Cheema said the government had no objection to Bhutto's body being exhumed for an autopsy if the family requested it.
Her widower has said the family was against exhumation because it did not trust the government.
Minallah said the family could not have prevented an autopsy at the hospital without getting an order from a judge.
The three-page medical report, which was signed by seven doctors, described Bhutto's head wound, but it did not conclude what caused it. It noted that X-ray images were made after she was declared dead.
The wound was described as an irregular oval of about 5 centimeters by 3 centimeters above her right ear.
"Sharp bones edges were felt in the wound," it read. "No foreign body was felt in the wound." E-mail to a friend
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report
All About Pakistani Politics • Benazir Bhutto • Rawalpindi General Hospital • Asif Ali Zardari


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Food grade plastic food wrap used to seal ingredients in containers.
Provides Same Day Shipping
Get instant same-day delivery or pick-up for orders received 8AM-4PM. Orders received after 4PM cut off will be shipped 10AM the next day.
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Bryan de CastoOrdering can be trying at times, store supply can be disappointing but I love shopping there! Most of the workers are so pleasant to talk to and they are very helpful. They work so hard for the customer. ☺ For those that are leaving negative comments, we all have had a bad experience somewhere.
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I started using it for less people contact but I hope they continue this service going forward. It's a time saver and an easy way to budget food costs.


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A weekly look at Wyoming business questions from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), part of WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.
By Debbie Gorski, Wyoming Entrepreneur Social Media Community Manager
"I want to set up a Facebook page for my business, but I don't know what I would write about every day." Vickie, Glenrock.
Many businesses set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account and then ask, "What do I write about?" It can be intimidating at first, but with a little time and brainstorming you will come up with many ideas to write about. As time goes on, it will become easier as well.
A few ideas to get started:
-- Provide education about the product or service.
-- Share industry information such as trends, new technology, resources, etc.
-- Post upcoming events, classes, workshops and discounts, sales and contests.
-- Announce successes such as awards, certifications, and newspaper or magazine reviews.
-- Highlight or spotlight previous customers.
-- Post photos and videos whenever possible. It is even better if the business creates its own videos.
-- Announce when the business will attend trade shows, festivals or volunteer efforts or causes.
-- Integrate fun information by showing personality, humor and a human side.
-- Post something unique or creative every week. Give readers a reason to check the business's page every week.
A few important guidelines to follow are listed below:
-- Post on a regular basis, write quality content, and keep it short. One of the worst things to do is set up an account and then abandon it. The Facebook page helps build relationships on social media sites that translate into customer service.
-- Quality content is subjective and means something different to every person, but in this case it means to provide meaningful content. While writing, imagine what information the reader will take away and use.
-- Keep posts between 80-100 characters. People want short snippets of information. Blog posts can provide lots of information with longer posts. Add a link to the blog for readers who want more information.
-- Instead of writing, give the same information in a video format. Keep the length of the video short -- around two minutes or less. Do not make the video-making process harder than it needs to be. Keep it simple and have fun.
You can also get assistance with your business questions, encouragement and support from the WyomingEntrepreneur network at www.wyen.biz or call 1-800-348-5184.
The WSBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email firstname.lastname@example.com or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922.


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Have you heard of the so-called "Mandela Effect?" It's a trending meme on teh Interwebz and it's making many folks apparently question reality and their grasp of sanity.
When I searched for "Mandela Effect" on Infogalactic, I got automatically redirected to the page entitled Confabulation.
In psychiatry, confabulation (verb: confabulate) is a memory disturbance, defined as the production of fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, without the conscious intention to deceive.[1] Individuals who confabulate present incorrect memories ranging from "subtle alterations to bizarre fabrications",[2] and are generally very confident about their recollections, despite contradictory evidence.[3]
Given the lack of any content of the Discussion page for the entry, I suspected the content and the auto-redirect of my search terms originates with Wikipedia's propaganda information control psyops before Infogalactic forked it. So I did the exact same search at Wikipedia and sure enough, on the Talk page, I found the following:
I returned to Wikipedia to post my rejection to Wikipedia rewriting the definition of the term "Mandela Effect" to replace the meaning of the term with a critical explanation for it. I discovered that the page has been removed altogether and that the term now brings one to this article, which doesn't even mention the term in it at all (yet this page is linked by the term.) - Neurolanis (talk) 10:05, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
Having only quickly skimmed over the topic after briefly encountering it while surfing through the fever swamps of my favorite haunts on the lunatic fringes of teh Interwebz, I decided to try and figure out what exactly this is all about.
So I consulted with Googliath and followed the
The Berenstain/Berenstein BearsThe consensus has been manufactured and T.H.E.Y. have spoken. So let it be
No single example of the Mandela Effect has generated more online buzz than that of the children's book series and animated TV show The Berenstain Bears. Quite a few people who grew up with the series, it turns out, remember the title being The Berenstein Bears, with the name ending in "ein" instead of "ain" (with some even going to go so far as to maintain that the fictional bears' surname was changed along the way to make it "less Jewish"):
A page on Broome's web site cites a number of testimonials:
I too clearly remember it as 'Berenstein' even though I never read the books. Why would anyone change that? Seems irrelevant.Does anyone remember the Berenstein Bears? I do. Although somewhere along the line the name has changed to the Berenstain Bears. No record of "stein" which is definitely how it was when i was younger. No question about it.I would like to say that I VERY CLEARLY remember "Berenstain Bears" being Berenstein Bears. I very specifically remember it being pronounced "STEIN" on the show.Didn't it used to be the Berenstein Bears? Now, suddenly it's the Berenstain bears? Is this some sort of anti-semitic cover-up? Or have those of us who grew up in the 1980's been misinformed, misread, and mispronounced?Clearly, something of interest is going on here, but what? How to explain the fact that many different people can share the same false memory? This, unfortunately, is where much of the Internet discussion on the topic veers into woo-woo territory.
Certainly it can't be an organized CONSPIRACY THEORY for the Government-Corporation-Foundation-NGO-Banking Cartel Industrial Complex and their useful idiot status whores and establishment cucks to collectively gaslight we the sheeple and make us think we are all losing our minds!
Snopes goes on to reference the more popular misformed disinformation memes that have been propagated to explain it all...the "woo-woo territory" that Snopes references involves ideas like parallel universes and virtual realities. It's a whole new world of conspiracy theory for us Whackaloon Conspiritards to 'sperg on!
According to the top Google search results, Wikipedia, Snopes, and the top meme's found on a Google image search, it has ALWAYS BEEN The Berenstain Bears, and the only scientifically approved explanation for why you and I and so many other people remember it differently is mass mistaken memory!
If you think there's something fishy going on here, and you distinctly remember otherwise, why you're just singing Looney Tunes...or is that Looney Toons?
Never mind the fact that in almost every case of research you do into "The Mandela Effect" involves fungible consumer products, sheeple feed, movies and Tell-a-vision shows....all of which are owned, copyrighted, marketed, distributed and/or printed, published or broadcast by entities that are interconnected into the Worldwide corporate control grid.
And all those folks involved in keeping the current system going...T.H.E.Y. couldn't possibly have a good motive for attempting to manipulate our minds like this, right?
Or is it some renegade transmissions from a parallel universe or glitches in our matrix computer simulation reality that's plaguing us with all this FakeNews our betters are working so hard to


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Use Tax
The Town of Parker does not have a consumer's use tax. However, use tax does apply to construction materials, construction equipment and motor vehicles.
Construction Materials Use Tax
When a building permit is issued, the Town of Parker collects an estimated prepayment of use tax. Upon completion of the construction project for all commercial building permits and multi-family building permits, a Construction Project Cost Report - Use Tax Return (PDF) must be filed with the Town to reconcile the estimated prepayment of use tax with actual use tax due. Subcontractors must provide a Construction Materials Cost Affidavit (PDF) to the general contractor.
Additional information regarding the use tax on construction materials is available on the Use Tax Due on Construction Projects Requiring a Building Permit (PDF), the Building Use Tax Reconciliation webinar and the Construction Materials Cost Affidavit webinar.
Use tax on construction materials for projects not requiring a permit is reported and paid on the Town of Parker Sales and Use Tax Return.
Construction Equipment Use Tax
There is a use tax on construction equipment that will be located in the Town for both permitted and non-permitted projects. Construction equipment use tax is due to the Town when a previous municipal sales tax has not been paid on this equipment. Please read the Construction Equipment Declaration - Use Tax Return (PDF) instructions for additional details and information on how to calculate the use tax due, if any. If the Construction Equipment Declaration is filed after the first date equipment is located in the Town of Parker use the Penalty and Interest Calculator (PDF) to calculate.
Motor Vehicle Use Tax
Use tax on motor vehicles is due for any vehicle registered to a Town address on which a previous Town sales tax has not been paid. Both purchased and leased vehicles are subject to the Town's use tax.
Contact Us
Sales Tax Administration
Mailing / Payment Address
P.O. Box 5602
Denver, CO 80217-5602Phone: 303.805.3228
Fax: 303.805.3219Hours
Monday - Friday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.


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Google on Friday announced its purchase of online ad fraud fighter Spider.io.
It initially will include Spider's fraud detection technology in its video and display ad products.
Over time, Google will incorporate Spider's iFramed ads view technology in its products. Its long-term goal is "to improve the metrics that advertisers and publishers use to determine the value of digital media," according to Neal Mohan, Spider's VP for display advertising.
"This is an excellent move for Google," said Mukul Krishna, senior global director of digital media at Frost & Sullivan.
"There are tens of billions of dollars involved," he told the E-Commerce Times.
What Spider.io Does
Spider's anti-malware technology identifies in real time the type of automated agent responsible for each individual ad request. It's the one Google will implement first.
Its other technology, which Google will implement later, lets advertisers measure ad viewability across all major browsers, ad exchanges, ad networks and ad servers — even in cross-domain iFrames. This is the first technology that can measure the viewability of iFramed ads across the Chrome and Safari browsers.
The antimalware software is important, because botnets use automated agents to hijack Internet-enabled devices and thus commit one of two types of ad click-fraud, Spider said.
One type of fraud has the attacker running fully automated browsers on hijacked devices without the device owner's knowledge. Those browsers visit websites containing ads the hacker has selected, simulating mouse movements and ad clicks.
The other type involves hijacking browsing sessions when a targeted device is used. They lead to four types of attacks: the device owner's clicks may be redirected to websites selected by the hacker; Web pages may show up in unexpected pop-up windows; Web pages may be hidden in pop-under windows beneath the device's active browser windows; or ads may be surreptitiously injected into Web pages visited by device owners.
Oh, Robot!
Automated traffic, or "non-human traffic," as comScore describes it, massively inflates the number of media impressions associated with digital content. NHT increased from about 6 percent of all Web traffic in 2011 to 36 percent in 2012.
Only 2.8 percent of ads that appear when malware is running on an infected computer are viewable by the user, Comscore's figures show.
Further, since malware processes frequently generate a new cookie for the user's PC each time it makes a call, this can "significantly inflate" publishers' Web analytics reports for both unique cookies and visitors, and pages viewed. Publishers are "simply incapable" of distinguishing this NHT from real user traffic and clicks.
For example, Marketing Pilgrim was under attack for most of 2012 by a bot that made it difficult for the site owner to properly use Google Analytics. The site used Spider.io to identify the attack's characteristics and block the offending browsers.
The Chameleon botnet alone cost display advertisers more than US$6 million a month in lost revenue, Spider estimated last year. It was the first to target display advertisers at scale, rather than text-link advertisers.
Gold, Gold Gold
Internet advertising revenues in Q3 2013 hit a record high of about $10.7 billion, showing 15 percent year-over-year growth, according to figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau.
Worldwide digital ad spending, which topped $100 billion in 2012, accounted for about 20 percent of total ad spending, eMarketer figures show.
Digital ad spending will account for 25 percent of all ad spending by 2016, the firm predicted.
Google is by far the leader in the digital ad market, with 31.9 percent of global market share, totaling more than $38 billion. Closest rivals Facebook and Yahoo respectively had about 5.6 percent of the market, worth $6.7 billion, and 2.9 percent of the market, worth $3.4 billion.
Google's acquisition of Spider may be crucial to its success.
"Google has worked hard to convince advertisers that bot fraud is not a problem — yet today's acquisition of Spider.io suggests that it doesn't have [bot fraud] as much under control as it would like us to believe," Andy Beal, managing editor of Marketing Pilgrim, told the E-Commerce Times.
The purchase "might tilt advertisers more towards Google and they will be able to charge more," Frost's Krishna remarked, "because they will have a higher probability of ensuring ads will be viewed on the sites and by the viewers selected by the advertisers."


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Did These Costumed Superheroes Get Too Funky at a Kid's Birthday Party? [VIDEO]
When you're a kid, there's nothing cooler than having costumed superheroes at your birthday party. But what if those superheroes engaged in some sort of spastic dance off freakout? Awkward…
In this video, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Batman and Venom undulate wildly to techno while kids look on. Spidey, please. Not in front of the children.
Is this sort of dancing appropriate for a children's party? Watch the video below and decide.
[via BuzzFeed]


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Don't forget our Expert Q&As happen every Thursday night on the Inside History Magazine facebook page.
When: 8:30-9:30pm EST | WA: 6:30-7:30pm WST | SA - NT: 8:00-9:00pm CST | Weekly on a Thursday night
As of 13 September 2012 there are 7,420,297 pages consisting of 72,750,378 articles available to search in just the old newspapers on Trove alone! Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links.
Top tips from Virginia and Mark:
- Mark: My top tip for anyone using Trove (particularly newspapers) is not to discount the content of newspaper Advertising. Not only do some articles appear in there due to errors in processing, but there may also be other information that is useful. Another useful tip is to use the 'near' search and honorifics if searching for names that are also common words - e.g. "mr john black"~2 - this reduces the 'false positives' you get with these names, particularly if you only have a surname
- Virginia: I like to start general and then start narrowing from there using facets unless I know exactly what I'm looking for. Searching newspapers is different to searching all of Trove, so I guess using the fulltext:searchterm is the most useful tip. What I mean by fulltext:searchterm is when you're in the search box in newspapers, if you type fulltext:McIntyre it will try to search for exactly McIntyre.
Summary of links from the Trove Expert Q&A:
- Donate & digitise your old papers: http://www.nla.gov.au/anplan/about/collect.html
- Suggest newspapers to add to Trove: http://librariesaustraliaref.nla.gov.au/reft100.aspx?key=TrNDP
- Trove: Australia in Picture flickr group :: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pictureaustralia_ppe
- Funding an newspaper addition: http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/get_involved
- Trove Newspapers: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
- List of titles coming soon to Trove: http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/selected_newspapers/Future_Titles.html
- List of current titles: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/titles
- Trove support: http://trove.nla.gov.au/contact
- Top 5 text correctors: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/hallOfFame
- Crowdsourcing funding: http://www.pozible.com
- Tim Sherratt's digital history tools: http://discontents.com.au
Transcript of Expert Q&A - Using Trove for family history research:
Comment: Carmel: Lol and it has been down the lat 24 hours, we were just saying how life can be soooo hard without it!
A. IHM: So true, you really miss it don't you Carmel Reynen - I know we have :)
A. IHM: Trove is working hard to get back online - go to http://dr.nla.gov.au for updates but Virginia & Mark are here at 8:30pm to answer your questions.
A. Carmel: I am guessing someone is tearing their hair out trying to get it up on line. I must say however I would not know near as much about my ancestors and families without Trove. I was not aware of many of the papers that do exist and I have found some wonderful stories. I found a biography about one ancestor living in Fitzroy with things I would not have known about otherwise (even if it did bring on more questions) and then there were family living in Arthurs Creek and people writing stories about tours of the area and talking to my g grandfather then describing the farm they all lived on. It was almost like reading a Jane Austen novel only my ancestors were the characters. Pure Gold
A. Mark: We have an update on the outage - see http://dr.nla.gov.au
A. Carmel: as frustrating it is for all of us that Trove is down, but hey those Techs would be frantic! we are just spoilt
A. Virginia: So glad you guys are being patient with us! It's so frustrating for us too when we can't give you precise answers or exact URLs for you to click on.
A. IHM: We're a civilised, polite bunch here Virginia :)
Comment: Lisa: Just love TROVE,I'm also a TAFE teacher and used it this week to teach my students some searching and filtering techniques. They are a mature class and were just enthralled - the web address was quickly noted for future use . . . Some new converts I think. :)
A. Virginia: @Lisa, That's fantastic! The education sector is one we're trying to reach out to more so it would be good to get feedback on how we could do that better!
Comment: IHM: Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us tonight. Try to keep your questions concise and focused on Trove, that will help Virginia and Mark to answer as many as possible in the hour that we have. They've also kindly agreed to answer any questions asked but not answered tonight here tomorrow.
A. Virginia: Hi all!
A. Carmel: hello
A. Helen: Good evening :)
A. Mark: (BTW, Hi all)
Q. Firstly thank you so much for Trove. My question that the red underlining is not dark enough for myself or older people, it would be great if you could darken the references. Thank you?
A. Mark: @Betty Thanks for your feedback on the underlining - We consulted with a number of users (including both older and vision impaired users) before finalising on that as being the best option from what was suggested. The limitations of the software mean that at the moment there is not much we can do. We will note this as a suggestion to be re-examined at some point. You may also find that by changing the zoom of the newspaper page it may become clearer where words are underlined. You can also use the browser 'find' button to find where the word appears in the text on the left, then click on the line that the word is in to jump the page to that point.
Q. Is there any way of contacting people who have tagged something, I usually put my initials and the family name I am researching, if someone else is looking for that same family how can we find them?
A. Julie: @Carmel Reynen Top question re contacting people who've tagged family history articles. Would be great to contact people researching the same family.
A. Mark: @Carmel & @Julie - at the moment we don't provide people with the ability to see who has added a specific tag to the article. You may be able to find this out by checking the profiles of people who have corrected the text to see if they've added the tag. Otherwise, you can post a comment asking people researching that family to contact you (I'd recommend setting up a free email account because you may get a bit of spam). Otherwise, you can try posting in the forums (http://trove.nla.gov.au/forum) asking people who are interested to contact you.
Q(b). IHM: Thanks Virginia James, can users raise development suggestions like Carmel Reynen & Julie Boxsells direct with the Trove team? How would they raise the suggestions?
A. Virginia: Great question Ben! We love getting suggestions for improvements! The best way is to send them through the contact us form. That way we never lose them and we can also let people know if it's a suggestion already on the list. I know it looks like we might not be doing anything with the suggestions, but believe me we have a long list of enhancements that we want to tackle when we have resources available. Right now our biggest improvement on the go is to make the Help and About pages better, hopefully including a search function so people can search for answers to the questions they need help with! And by 'questions' I mean the sorts of questions like 'How do I search for an exact name?' or 'How do I find theses on a specific topic', or 'How do I change my password.'
A. IHM: Thanks Virginia, here's the contact form link for everyone :: http://trove.nla.gov.au/contact
A. Mark: The mockups that I've seen for the help pages are looking good!
A. Tanya: Love the idea of using questions to answer questions. They will help you before you even realise you've been helped!
A. Virginia: @Tanya, Well, we're hoping the new help functionality will be able to answer the questions before people have to ask us for the answers! We often get repeats of the same sorts of questions so we want to be able to provide the answers more easily for people!
A. Mark: @Chez Leggatt - If you are asking about the advanced search page, the you can use the browser 'find' function to search for the newspaper (this will find it in the list). Otherwise, you can select the 'view all titles' link from the Trove newspapers homepage, find the newspaper in this list, then select the 'Search only this title' box that appears underneath the search box in the top right-hand corner of the page. You can bookmark this newspaper page so you can simply return to that page rather than going through the homepages.
A. Chez: Hmmm Mark...I will test out if that will do what I am looking for once you are up and operational again..thankyou!! I ♥ Trove btw!!
Q. I can't seem to access death notices for Northern Star Lismore.
A. Mark: @Esma - have you tried browsing through the pages of the newspaper or checking in the advertising section? You may also be able to find them by searching for 'death' in addition to your other search terms.
Q(b). Esma: Are Campbelltown or Camden NSW newspapers being added to Trove?
A. Mark: There have been a couple of questions about whether newspapers from particular areas are available. As the NLA site is currently down we can't link to our list, but a copy of it can be found at http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/07/update-on-troves-historical-australian-newspaper-digitisation-program/ . If titles you are interested in are not on this list, please suggest them at http://librariesaustraliaref.nla.gov.au/reft100.aspx?key=TrNDP
Q. From Hillary Lowden: What is the schedule for materials from the Bendigo Advertiser to be loaded on Trove?
A. Virginia: To answer Hillary's question, we're happy to say the Bendigo Advertiser is starting to com online as we speak (well, once we're back up that is!) and it will progressively have more available online in coming months. The process takes awhile unfortunately.
Q. I am also interested in Avoca, Ampitheatre Maryborough area not sure what was available there but are there plans for there.
A. Mark: There have been a couple of questions about whether newspapers from particular areas are available. As the NLA site is currently down we can't link to our list, but a copy of it can be found at http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/07/update-on-troves-historical-australian-newspaper-digitisation-program/ . If titles you are interested in are not on this list, please suggest them at http://librariesaustraliaref.nla.gov.au/reft100.aspx?key=TrNDP
Q. My question (apart from one already lodged) is:
The other night I was correcting, and there was a loud bang, a flash of light and dust everywhere. When I picked myself up, I realised I had just been passed by the wonderful Friends of Penrith Library. As they seemed to be travelling faster than the speed of sound, I suspect there was more than just one person peddling at the same time. If I register a historical society for a few people who just want to try/aren't game to register themselves, can more than one person use the same user-name at the same time?
A. Virginia: @Linda, To answer your first question about how many people are actually registered to correct text, we have a total of 70,000 users registered but only 3,761 are actively correcting text.
A: Linda: Seventy thousand. I am in awe! Even almost four thousand actively correcting is a fair-sized miracle. Thank You!
A. Virginia: @Linda, and to answer your second question... at the same time? Hmmm... I'm not sure! Mark might know that one better but I would imagine it would cause difficulties!
A. Mark: @Linda - I'm not sure about having multiple users logged in on one account simultaneously, it may work, but I haven't experimented with that yet.
A. Mark: @Linda if you want to experiment and let us know, that would be great :-)
A. Linda: Hi Mark, Had just begged my beloved for his computer, and was about to experiment (I admit I have registered one society identity, but not tried), and Tove is, unfortunately, still down. I shall get back to you once it has settled into its normal very reliable state. :)
A. Mark: @Linda - when you've done some experimenting let us know
A. Virginia: @Linda, I agree with Mark! It would be useful for us to know if it's possible so we can let other groups know if they ask us!
Q. What would be your TOP research/search tip for genealogists using Trove? (One each) :)
A. IHM: lol, that's our question Helen Leggatt - good one though :)
A. Mark: @Helen - My own top tip for anyone using Trove (particularly newspapers) is not to discount the content of newspaper Advertising. Not only do some articles appear in there due to errors in processing, but there may also be other information that is useful. Another useful tip is to use the 'near' search and honorifics if searching for names that are also common words - e.g. "mr john black"~2 - this reduces the 'false positives' you get with these names, particularly if you only have a surname
A. Virginia: @Helen, I'm a bit different to Mark... I like to start general and then start narrowing from there using facets unless I know exactly what I'm looking for. Searching newspapers is different to searching all of Trove, so I guess using the fulltext:searchterm is the most useful tip.
Q(b). IHM: Hi Virginia James, can you explain fulltext:searchterm a little more
A. Virginia: BTW, what I mean by fulltext:searchterm is when you're in the search box in newspapers, if you type fulltext:McIntyre it will try to search for exactly McIntyre. (Mark can elaborate if I'm slightly off on that one. He's the newspaper expert.) :)
A. Chloe: Hi all! I just tuned in and would like to second what Mark just said about looking in the Advertising section. I have been looking there lately and there is heaps of potentially useful info as well as lots of curiosities. I enjoy the latter!
Q. is there any programs to get papers that have never been microfilmed? Also with all the fuss of newspapers going digital these days does anyone know what will happen to these in the future?
A. Virginia: @ Carmel, I'm not personally aware of any programs to keep or archive papers that haven't been microfilmed, but Ben got a question from someone who has kept some papers from a certain period that was wondering if they'd be of interest to Trove. I'd love to be able to provide the exact link but if you do a search for 'donating' or 'donation' on the NLA website when it's back up you can find information on donating materials to the NLA. I'm sure the State Libraries would also be interested in collecting old issues of newspapers.
Q(b). From Noreen Malone: In the 1991 Floods I kept our local Daily Newspaper for about 2wks would these be of any interest to Trove?
A. Virginia: Thanks Ben, that's the one! I hope Noreen sees this and is able to contact the NLA or State library about donating the issues!
A. Mark: @Carmel - with the microfilming of newspapers that are not currently available on microfilm, ANPlan, which involves all the State Libraries, as well as the National Library, is managing this process. It is possible to digitise from the hardcopy of newpapers, but this is a more expensive process. With newspapers going digital, that is more a question for the Web Archiving team...
A. IHM: Wanted! Australia's missing newspapers. What's in your shed or under the bed? Old newspapers tell the stories of their times, through ads, photos, obituaries, classifieds. Contact National Library of Australia: http://www.nla.gov.au/anplan/about/collect.html
A. Virginia: @Carmel, I think Mark and I have interpreted your question in different ways, which is a good thing, because I was thinking about what would happen to the digitised copies as well and was hoping a digital master would be kept!
Q. From Dyonne Adams: What is the schedule for materials from the New England regional newspapers to be loaded on Trove?
A. Mark: @Dyonne Adams - Unfortunately we can't provide a schedule for materials for New England (or any specific region) newspapers to be loaded into Trove. The digitisation process does take time, and unfortunately we can only digitise a certain number of newspapers each year. If the titles are on the list of selected titles, then they should be in Trove by June, if not, then they first need to be prioritised etc. If you can organise funding for the title/s to be digitised then they will get done quicker!
A. Dyonne: Inside History Magazine, thanks for asking the question re New England newspapers...do you happen to know what they mean by organising funding?
A. IHM: You're welcome Dyonne Adams, anytime :) Funding was discussed in our 1st Q&A with Trove - see http://ow.ly/dGlsZ - and some societies etc have started seeking donations to fund the digitisation and load of their local newspapers to Trove. There's also more at http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/get_involved, when the NLA sites are back up. Also, Linda Barraclough is in the process of raising funds so she may be able to help :)
A. Dyonne: oh excellent, i'll look tomorrow when the site is up and running...Again, thanks :)
Q. Mark I am with the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society and we have gained funds to have some of our historic newspapers digitised, which are already up on line. We had someone contact us about having their papers done. Who should I direct him to?
A. Mark: @Carmel - There are a couple of links on the page to suggest a title that they should read first. They should probably contact their State Library to discuss the options, and they can also use the Trove contact form - http://trove.nla.gov.au/contact - which we will forward to the relevant people.
Q. We're nearly at the end & you've given us your top tips. So can you tell us your favourite find on Trove? And if you've looked up your own families.
A. Virginia: I know I have a few favourite finds on Trove, mostly little things I come across when I'm searching for something to Tweet about; they're usually funny or strange stories in the newspapers, or gorgeous photos contributed to our Flickr group.
A. Mark: My favourite find in Trove is something found when working on getting the Digitised Newspapers up and running - a series of articles about monkeys that escaped from a zoo in Brisbane, including a photo in one of them...I believe the title of the article is 'The Truant'...Search for 'escaped monkey' in the Courier Mail, 1933-1934...
A. Carmel: I found a biography of my 3x g grandfather which was such a great find. Also my grandmother was born in Arthurs Creek. A couple of people went there as a holiday and spoke of running into a local and the conversation that followed. this was my great Grandfather, the following day they went to the farm and described the scene. It was like reading a novel and my family were the main characters.
A. Virginia: @Carmel, Wow! That must have been so amazing for you to find!
A. IHM: Love your story Carmel Reynen - that's why we should all travel the paths our ancestors took, you'll never know who or what you'll find :)
A. IHM: Trove: Australia in Picture flickr group :: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pictureaustralia_ppe
A. Carmel: These are treasures I would never have found if it were not for TROVE. actually when I recommend Trove for people, I tell them to google Trove, think of it as a treasure trove as it is full of treasures.
A. Mark: @Carmel - that is a great way to think of it!
A. Virginia: @Carmel, Awesome! That's actually how Trove got it's name... a treasure trove. :)
A. Chez. Thanks that was great..my best find so far...a write up on my Great Great Grandfathers 80th Birthday celebration and then his Obituary a couple of years later with the report of his death too....comments made in these articles gave me an insight into the man....
Comment: IHM: Thanks again to Virginia and Mark for joining us tonight! You can ask questions at http://trove.nla.gov.au/contact and get updates on the system at http://dr.nla.gov.au. Now give them a round of applause :)
A. Linda: Applauding - Thanks Virginia and Mark
A. Virginia: You're most welcome, Ben et al! I think Mark and I get a kick out of these sessions.
A. Mark: You're welcome everyone - I do enjoy these sessions
A. Virginia: Night everyone! Feel free to send any more questions through to us via the contact form and cross fingers we're up tomorrow!
Comment: IHM: We'll publish the questions, answers and links from tonight's session in a blog post soon. We'll be here again next Thursday, 20th September from 8:30 – 9:30pm, with our next expert. Tim Sherratt will be answering questions on today's toolkit for the digital historian including his Trove tools :: http://discontents.com.au.
Read the previous Expert Q&A transcripts:
[1] Thursday, July 26 :: How to get the best from Trove Australia
[2] Thursday, August 16 :: How to get the best from BDM Certificates
[3] Thursday, August 23 :: Getting the most from NAA[2] Thursday, August 16 :: How to get the best from BDM Certificates
[4] Thursday, August 30 :: Interpreting photographs for family history
[5] Thursday, September 6 :: How to get the best from Ancestry.com.au


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The Planning Commission guides the city's future development and land use policies. The Planning Commission's focus is to make land use decisions that are consistent with the City's Master Plan that promote high quality, sustainable development and equitable growth in our city. The Planning Commission meets in the Council Chambers at City Hall, the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 7:00 P.M.
Members include: Robert Szwed - Chairman, Kenneth Stewart - Vice Chair, Christopher Siemion - Secretary, Angela Croft, - City Council Rep., Stan Pochron, Administrative Rep., Bill Fisher, Mark Styles, Fadie Ghallozi, and Mayor Rick Sollars,
The Planning Commission is responsible for the following:
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My friend Todd pointed me to this mention of Tapestry in ComputerWeekly under the heading "Hot Skills: MVC". The same article cites the momentum of Tapestry and Spring and the relative weakness of Struts.
They even used one of my catch phrases: The simplest choice should be the correct choice. Nice.


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Summer eating might be light, but it doesn't need to be boring!
Combining flavors and textures is never easier than with the bounty that shows up on grocery shelves, in farmer's markets and in CSA baskets in the warmer months.
These spring rolls are a case in point. The combine crunchy, creamy and chewy textures with sweet, sharp and even a little bit bitter flavors. Together, these combine to keep you taste buds buzzing. This slaw uses shredded brussels sprouts as a base, and I love it! It really brings an interesting dimension to slaw. I used unsulphered apricots as the natural golden brown color of the apricot slices blends in nicely with the fresh green of the slaw and the bright red of the apple peel.
Spring rolls not your thing? You can mix up a bowl of the slaw to serve as a salad alongside all your summer BBQ favorites.
I shared this recipe with Wellness Weekend.
Summer Slaw Spring Rolls
Makes 5 or 6 spring rolls
- 5 or 6 spring roll wrappers (I used rice flour papers.)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced dried apricots
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced sweet onions
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red apple (I used Gala.)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced avocado
- 1 cup shredded brussels sprouts
- 2 tablespoons Dijon-Agave dressing (recipe below)
- In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except spring roll wrappers. Toss to evenly distribute ingredients and dressing.
- Fill a shallow dish with warm water. (I used a pie plate.)
- Place one spring roll wrapper in water and let soften; it should take a minute or two.
- Once soft remove wrapper to a plate, spoon filling (maybe 2 tablespoons depending on the size of your wrapper) onto the wrapper. You want to scoop it into a line leaving a border of at least 1 1/2 inches at the top and on the left side.
- Tuck the top and the bottom of the wrapper over the filling, and tuck the left side over the folded wrapper and filling. Roll filled wrapper to the right until all of the wrapper is tucked up. (In other words, wrap like a burrito!)
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Combine all ingredients into a small jar.
- Shake to combine.
My new book Super Seeds, is available now! You can also find tasty recipes in Welcoming Kitchen: 200 Delicious Allergen & Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes.


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ON THESE 13 PAGES, we recognize higher education institutions that take true initiative-- even out-and-out risk-- to better serve the campus community via technology. These top-notch university administrators, faculty, and staff demonstrate something more than a "job well done"; their vision and leadership have taken technology investment to new heights, to the unique benefit of teaching, learning, administration, and operations on campus. Worthy of acknowledgment, too, are the campus/vendor partnerships forged to support these innovative technology initiatives and see them through. We congratulate this year's 11 winners, selected by our team of editors from 349 nominations from around the globe. It was challenging to choose from so many deserving entrants offering their campus tech projects as such outstanding models for other institutions of higher education. Happily, many of these compelling case studies will find their way into future articles. Our thanks to all of the 2009 Campus Technology Innovators program participants!
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